Maura has deep roots in Massachusetts. Her parents both grew up in Newburyport. Her maternal grandparents met in Gloucester, where her grandfather worked on the fishing docks and her grandmother, whose ancestors settled on the Parker River in Newbury in 1636, went to nursing school. Her paternal grandparents came from Ireland and worked as a domestic worker and a janitor.
Maura was born at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1971 while her father served as a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, and later as a civil engineer in the Environmental Protection Agency. Her maternal grandmother was determined that her grandchild be born on Massachusetts soil. She traveled through a snowstorm down Route 1, flew to Maryland, snuck into the delivery room wearing her nursing outfit, and placed a bag of soil from a family woodlot in Byfield below the delivery bed so that Maura could be “born” over Massachusetts. What mothers and grandmothers will do!
Maura believes the best way to help families dealing with high costs right now is by making meaningful investments while also putting money back in people’s pockets.
Too many families are struggling to keep up with the cost of living. With housing, gas, and child care costs skyrocketing, we need to give families relief. Maura believes the best way to help families dealing with high costs right now is by making meaningful investments while also putting money back in people’s pockets.
That’s why Maura supports tax relief for families. Under Maura’s Child Tax Credit, more than 700,000 families would receive $600 per child.
Her Child Tax Credit would have numerous benefits. As inflation and the cost of living continues to burden Massachusetts residents, this proposal would put more money back in their pockets. Large families would no longer be excluded from additional assistance. Further, the fully-refundable tax credit would help address the economic crisis stemming from our under-invested child care system, and families who don’t use professional child care would also see an added impact. This will be especially impactful for Black and Latino families, which are more likely to rely on informal child care. Overall, this proposal also would streamline and simplify the tax filing process for Massachusetts families.
Here’s how it works.
Currently, the Household Dependent Tax Credit is for all families with dependents, but it is capped at two dependents with a $180 benefit per dependent, for a maximum benefit of $360. The Dependent Care Tax Credit is for child care-related expenses, but it is also capped at two dependents with a $240 benefit per dependent, with a maximum benefit of $480. Under current law, a tax filer may choose either tax credit but cannot choose both. A family with two dependents who previously received the Dependent Care Tax Credit would get a maximum of $480 – under Healey’s plan, that family would receive $1200 in tax relief.
Maura’s Child Tax Credit would combine these two credits. She would more than double the value of the existing tax credits being offered and remove the dependent cap currently set at two dependents. Her plan would also index the credit to inflation moving forward. This would allow tax filers to simply include the number of dependents (children under age 13, individuals age 65 and over, and persons with disabilities) on their returns in order to receive the credits. This tax credit would also be permanent, giving families stability for years to come.